Thursday September 15 / 28 ns 2023 • Holy Great Martyr Nikétas; St. Bessarion, Metropolitan of Lárissa; St. Symeon, Archbishop of Thessalonica; St. Philótheos the Presbyter ~ THE TREASURY OF DIVINE KNOWLEDGE From Saint Peter of Damaskos ON STILLNESS

 

Holy Great Martyr Nikétas;
St. Bessárion, Metropolitan of Lárissa;
St. Symeon, Archbishop of Thessalonica;
St. Philotheos the Presbyter

Nikétas was a Goth by birth. He was a disciple of Theóphilos, Bishop of the Goths, who participated in the First Ecumenical Council [Nicaea 325]. When the Gothic prince Athenarik began to torture Christians, St. Nikétas stood before the prince and denounced him for his paganism and inhumanity. Subsequently harshly tortured, Nikétas confessed his faith in Christ even more strongly, and prayed to God with thanksgiving. His mind was unceasingly raised up to God, and on his breast under his robe he bore an icon of the Most-holy Theotokos with the Pre-eternal Christ Child standing and holding the Cross in His hands. St. Nikétas carried this icon because the Holy Theotokos had appeared to him and comforted him. Finally, the torturer threw the soldier of Christ into the fire, where the holy martyr breathed his last, but his body remained untouched by the fire. His companion Marianus took his body from the land of the Goths (Wallachia and Bessarabia) to the town of Mopsuestia, in Cilicia. There, he built a church dedicated to St. Nikétas, and placed the miracle-working relics of the martyr in it. Nikétas suffered and was glorified in the year 372.

2 Saint Timothy 2:1-10 KJV

2 Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

5 And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.

6 The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits.

7 Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.

8 Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel:

9 Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound.

10 Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

Saint Matthew 10:16-22 KJV

16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

17 But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues;

18 And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.

19 But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.

20 For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.

21 And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.

22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

THE TREASURY OF DIVINE KNOWLEDGE

From Saint Peter of Damaskos

ON STILLNESS

Stillness and withdrawal from men and human affairs are of benefit to all, but especially to those who are weak and subject to the passions. For the intellect cannot attain dispassion by means of ascetic practice alone; such practice must be followed by spiritual contemplation. Nor will anyone escape unharmed from distraction and from exercising authority over others unless he has first acquired dispassion through withdrawal.  The cares and confusion, of this life are liable to harm even the perfect and the dispassionate. 

Human effort is profitless, says St John Chrysostomos, without help from above; but no one receives such help unless he himself chooses to make an effort. We need always both things; we need the human and the divine, ascetic practice and spiritual knowledge, fear and hope, inward grief and solace, tearfulness and humility, discrimination and love. For, he says, all things in life are twofold: day and night, light and dark, health and sickness, virtue and vice, ease and adversity, life and death. Through the help from above we in our weakness come to love God, while through our own effort we flee sin out of our fear of trials. But if we are strong we can love God as our Father in all things, knowing that all things are ‘wholly good and beautiful’ (Gen. 1:31) and that God orders them for our benefit. 

We will restrain ourselves from pleasures and long for adversity, knowing that through such self-restraint our bodies are imbued with life for the glory of the Creator, while through adversity our souls are helped towards salvation by the ineffable mercy of God.

IMAGINE?

We need not try to imagine that which already exists but lies behind a self-imposed veil or what we have placed beneath the surface.

Ask and it will be given to you....the Kingdom of Heaven is within